The Guardian: Belief
Pete felt the need to pinch himself again just to be sure the girl sitting across the table from him wasn't a dream. Arin was the kind of girl who didn't run with a particular crowd; she fit in with all of them. She played softball in the spring and wrote for the literary arts magazine in the fall, she made pretty good grades and participated in art club. But it was her general good nature that caught your eye. It was like she had a kind of compassion for the entire world; like every single person she knew and met was special to her. It was hard to dislike someone like that.
They were sitting at one of those little outdoor tables at the ice cream shop on the edge of town, talking animatedly and waiting for their confections.
"So, are you going to get a job when football's over?" she asked. "'Cause I could hook you up with something part time at the hospital this winter."
"Yeah, I'm gonna work, but I already told Mr. Ray at the hardware store that I'd help him out there. He's getting old and his arthritis is really bothering him, so he needs all the help he can get. Plus he's an old friend of the family," he said, rolling his eyes. "So, what exactly do you do at the hospital? Your not a nurse, are you?" he inquired just as the waitress brought out two enormous sundaes.
"Well…I'm not a nurse. My official title is clerk and assistant. I'm kinda a jack-of-all-trades. I stock stuff, check on deliveries, monitor charts, stuff like that. But I've been there so long that I know the job pretty well, so I also help keep up charts by monitoring BP, heart rate, stuff like that. When I do that my title is student shadow/intern. I like doing that best. It gives me access to the whole hospital and I get to talk to patients. It's great." She smiled as a bit of whip cream stuck to her lip. She wiped it off, blushing.
"Don't think me rude for asking, but is it good money?"
"Oh yeah, I make over minimum wage. The only bad part is, I have to work under my mother. She the head of the pediatric department and I usually help in the Peds. oncology ward. So if I screw up, she knows." She grimaced, scrunching up her nose and making her look adorable, or so Pete thought. He kept getting lost in her eyes. They were so strange, one bright green, the other a brown-gold. She shifted her eyes from his, suddenly embarrassed, and combed her hair around her face with her hand. She wore it short and straight, following the outline of her face almost exactly. On her right cheek, she had a white scar that looked like a stray hair because it ran up and back, towards her ear. While they were working on the project still, he'd asked how she got it. All she'd say was that she'd gotten it in an accident when she was five. She did tell him she hated it, but he said it gave her face character and Pete noticed that after that, she stopped covering it with makeup.
Arin sat up suddenly and reached into her purse where something was beeping softly. She pulled out a little blue phone and pushed a few buttons.
"Dammit," she muttered softly, putting the phone away. "Pete, it looks like I'm gonna have to leave. That was the hospital. Something must have happened for them to call me. They just sent a text message 'cause I'd had it off. I'm so sorry about this. I'd like nothing better than to stay here right now, but I have to go see what's up." She stood up and put on her jacket as she spoke.
Pete jumped up quickly. "Why don't you let me drive you over. I'm not gonna make you call for a ride."
Her face brightened instantly. "Oh, would you? Thanks so much Pete. You're the best." She picked up her purse and they left.
Think you've seen depressing. You haven't been depressed until you set foot inside a pediatric oncology ward. Arin ran a security card through a slot at the door and then we both walked in. The hallway was that pasty white that all hospitals are. There was a big door to our right and another set of double doors at the end of the hall.
"That ICU down there," Arin said pointing down the hall, "And here's our stop." She turned right and entered into what looked like a cross between the waiting room at a dentist's office and a child's play room. The floor was covered in a coarse blue carpet, not the usual monochromatic tile found throughout the rest of the building. There was a T.V and a few worn out chairs and a green sofa. The wallpaper was too serious for all that is was covered in paintings done by children. "This is the reception area, but mostly the kids just play around in here. She led the way through a door at the opposite end of the room and into another hallway.
We walked past two rooms, both containing sleeping children visible through the narrow window, before Arin stopped and went through a door. Pete held the door open, but instead of going through, stayed on the threshold and watched Arin approach the room's only bed. The girl lying in it couldn't have been more than ten. She wore a bright blue bandanna on her head, which matched her outrageously blue eyes. Aside from the monitors attached to her chest and arm, she looked perfectly healthy. In fact, she was vibrating with all the excitement of a child at Christmas time. When she saw Arin and the look on her face though, she looked a little abashed.
Arin walked up to the bed, held out her hand, and promptly demanded, "Give it here Gabbi." The girl said nothing, but instead rolled her eyes and from under her pillow pulled a lime green cell phone.
"There, happy?" she demanded. Then she caught sight of Pete in the hallway and that naughty little glint reappeared in her eyes. "Ohhh! Who's that? Arin is that your boyf-!" She stopped short as Arin stuck out her hand clamped it over Gabbi's mouth.
"That," Arin said, pointing in Pete's direction and then motioning him in, "is what you pulled me away from tonight. Gabbi, Pete. Pete, this is Gabrielle Mitchell aka Hell on Wheels," she said by means of introduction. "Now what was SO important, Gabbi, that you had to pull me away from my date?"
She removed her hand from the girl's mouth, but Gabbi wasn't interested in getting to the point just yet. "Oh, he's cute," she teased, clearly mocking the older girl.
"One more word Gabbi and the phone goes out the window. Now what is going on?"
"Fine. Grab my chart for me, will ya?" she said suddenly all business. She gestured to Pete at the end of the bed and he pulled a clipboard off a hook at the foot of it, then passed it to her. "Thanks. Now here, look at this!" she said, nodding to Pete and then thrusting the board at Arin.
"What? Gabbi, this is just today's med chart…oh my God," Arin stopped flipping sheets and stopped at a bright orange one reading: Pre Op Diet. "What happened?" she demanded of the girl, smiling brilliantly.
Gabbi looked animatedly between Pete and Arin before explaining, "My cousin Paul is back from college and my aunt and uncle forgot that he never got tested when they did two years ago because he'd been at school. So he went and got tested on a long shot and he's compatible. He's flying into Metropolis tomorrow morning and I'm going under the day after that! Isn't it great!" Her eyes were wide and she was bouncing slightly on the bed. Pete had no idea what she was talking about, but Arin reached out and gave her a hug fit to break her back.
"That's wonderful. Why didn't you call me sooner?" she asked, looking slightly hurt.
"Well, I would have, but nurse Watson didn't want me to 'bother' you so she hid the room phone. And my cell is out of minutes, so I just sent a text message because I couldn't wait any longer. Are you really mad?"
Arin handed her the cell phone and moved to stand by Pete. "No, I'm not really angry. This was important and I'm glad you told me. I'm sure this will all go fine. I'm gonna go before Watson sees me and goes on the warpath. But I'm on shift tomorrow, so we'll talk then. See you latter Gabbs, alright?" she made a move toward the door as she spoke and giving the Gabbi a slight wave. Gabrielle waved back and motioned for them to go.
"Alright, bye. Nice to meet you Pete. Oh! Arin, wait. I forgot to tell you. Last night, She came. Not just to the ward, but into my room! I think She helped me get well so I could have the surgery," Gabbi spoke quickly, emphasizing the last part.
Arin turned upon hearing that last part and seemed at a loss for words. "Ah, really Gabbi. That's…uh that's nice…really nice. Night now." She nodded and then hustled Pete out the door and back into the reception room.
They walked back through the double doors and into the main hall before they spoke, then Pete asked, "What was that all about? What's compatible? And who's She?"
"Well, one has nothing to do with the other. Her cousin Paul had some tests done last week and the results came in today. See, they were testing to see if he'd be a compatible bone marrow donor for Gabbi. She has leukemia, and none of her family was a close enough match to do a transplant, until now. It's a good thing she's doing so much better," she said turning to look at Pete and continuing to explain as they got onto the elevator, "she had a really bad case of pneumonia earlier this week. I'm surprised it cleared up so fast." Catching the look of confusion on Pete's face, she elaborated, "because leukemia effects white blood cells, it make the patients more susceptible to illness. Michael and David, our other two leukemia patients, both had it too. And it would be to risky too attempt a surgery with her in poor condition."
"As for Gabbi's comment as we were leaving, there's this story that kinda circulated through all the Peds. Wards about this woman. The night nurse told the kids she was a guardian angel, but the older ones swear that she was a real person, so they call her The Guardian. They say she wanders the halls at night and watches over the kids. Now I've never seen her, gut Gabbi tells me that she's a young woman in all white and that she has soft hands." Pete's face showed a look of incredulity, but Arin went on. "When the kids are really sick, they say she comes into the room and holds one of their hands and puts her other on their head. They say when she does that it makes them feel all warm and sleepy and when they wake up, she's gone."
"And you…you really believe all this?" Pete questioned, raising an eyebrow. Arin sighed and looked at the floor as they walked.
"I don't know. All I know is that after a kid says she's touched them, they are always improve. There were kids we swore wouldn't make it through the night and then I walk in the next morning and they look as good as new. Maybe she's an angel, maybe she's a really kind person who likes kids and the improvements are just coincidence. I don't know. All I do know is that she makes the kids believe that there is someone out there or up there that cares about them. She makes them believe in miracles and that's one of the most powerful medicines I've ever seen. Belief does those kids more good than all the chemo in the world can." She sighed again and looked Pete straight in the eye. "I'm not crazy, I just need to believe that something special is possible too, or else I couldn't work here. I just couldn't."
"I don't think you're crazy. I think you're one of the most special people I've ever known," Pete said, and then he blushed. "That was really corny, wasn't it?"
"No, it was sweet and exactly what I needed to hear. Thanks," she said and smiled. Pete put his arm around her shoulder as they walked into the dark parking lot. "I'm sorry that our date got cut short," she told him, suddenly remembering what she was originally out for.
"It's alright," he said, grinning, "it gives me an excuse to finish it of next week." He opened the car door for her and drove off into the night, with his arm still around he shoulders. Later, he'd think about all that she said, but for right now, he was too busy falling for the sweetest person he knew: the one sitting right next to him.